Vermont Republicans seek unity in Trump's shadow

Vermont Republicans tread carefully when discussing presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump during the state Republican Convention on May 21, 2016 in South Burlington.
APRIL BURBANK/FREE PRESS

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Sen. Dustin Degree, R-Franklin, holds a "Jim Douglas for President" sticker on May 6, the final day of Vermont's legislative session.(Photo: APRIL BURBANK/FREE PRESS)Buy Photo

SOUTH BURLINGTON – In the final hours of lawmaking, as the minds of Vermont politicians shifted toward campaigns and the November election, presidential bumper stickers began circulating through the Statehouse.

“Jim Douglas, president,” the sticker said in red, white and blue. “The third way.”

It was a political gag, of sorts.

But the joke nomination of Douglas, the former Republican governor of Vermont, also signaled some uneasiness among Vermont’s moderate fiscally-focused Republicans about the man presumed to lead their national ticket, New York businessman and TV reality star Donald Trump.

“We always talk about our Republicans as being more moderate perhaps than some of our peers around the country," said Tim Hayward, former chief of staff for Gov. Douglas.

“There was a spark of truth in those stickers, I think," Hayward said.

The push and pull between the Vermont Republican brand and national party politics was real but subdued Saturday at the state Republican convention at the Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center in South Burlington.

Trump bumper stickers proliferated, though some attendees expressed reservations about the presidential race.

“I’m going to support Donald Trump in the election because I would much rather have him than Hillary,” said Elizabeth Niekrewicz of Williston, but overall I don’t know if he’s really going to make the Republican Party look good.”

Party leaders called for unity and argued that at least Trump would appoint conservative Cabinet members. They also argued that Trump was highly preferable to Democratic candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“When I’m out here and I hear people say, ‘Well I don’t know if I can vote for Trump,’” said Jay Shepard, Vermont’s national committeeman, “I say, ‘You’re going to allow a Democrat to continue the mess and the indignations that we have to suffer on a daily basis to be in the White House?”

Trump won about one-third of Vermont’s primary vote on March 1, followed closely by Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has since dropped out of the race.

Cheryl Donlon of Enosburg Falls, a volunteer for the Donald Trump presidential campaign, hands out campaign swag at the Vermont Republican Convention in South Burlington in May.(Photo: EROS HOAGLAND/FOR THE FREE PRESS)

Some Vermont Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Phil Scott, have disavowed Trump and refused to fall in line. Others say Trump has tapped into grassroots frustration on issues such as job creation and treatment of veterans, and that he will draw more Republican voters to Vermont’s November election.

"He's a guy who doesn't follow the normal course, and it causes people to think out of the box and to have a different outlook," said Art Peterson of Clarendon. "We need that different outlook."

"Our standard of living has declined over eight years of Obama," said Anne Galante of New Haven, who was concerned that jobs had left Vermont.

Still other GOP voters are biting their tongues and waiting to see how Trump evolves in the coming weeks.

“My focus is squarely on what’s going on here in Franklin County,” said state Sen. Dustin Degree, R-Franklin, deflecting a question about the presidential race.

“I’d like to know who is vice president is going to be,” said 20-year-old delegate hopeful Zachary Zupan, who said he had initially supported Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and was in no hurry to make a decision on Trump. “That’s going to be very important and very telling about his character.”

“We still have a lot to learn about Donald Trump and what his plans are for the country,” said Sharon Toborg, treasurer for the Vermont Right to Life Political Committee. She said she’s looking for more clarification about Trump’s position on abortion.

Vermont Republican delegates say the Pledge of Allegiance at the Vermont Republican Convention in South Burlington on Saturday.(Photo: EROS HOAGLAND/FOR THE FREE PRESS)

Saturday’s event culminated with the election of 13 delegates who will represent Vermont at the national convention in July. Vermont party leaders will take another three slots for a total of 16 delegates.

The Trump campaign had hand-picked 13 delegates they called the “Vote Trump - Defeat Hillary slate.” Nine of the pro-Trump candidates won election.

One of the successful delegates, Chet Greenwood of Newport, initially supported Kasich but now backs Trump.

“I think he’s maybe toned down his rhetoric a bit,” Greenwood said. “He can be presidential.”

But Trump’s candidacy has also discouraged at least one young Republican.

Jason Maulucci, president of Vermont College Republicans, submitted his name to be a national delegate about a month ago, when an open convention seemed possible.

Maulucci stopped actively seeking a delegate slot after Trump became the presumptive nominee, and he took on a more active role in Lt. Gov. Scott’s campaign for governor.

Alexander Willette of Maine speaks on behalf of Donald Trump's presidential campaign at the Vermont Republican Convention in South Burlington on Saturday.(Photo: EROS HOAGLAND/FOR THE FREE PRESS)

Maulucci is not sure that millennials will “fall in line” with Trump’s nomination.

“Almost half of being president is knowing when not to say something,” Maulucci said. “I don’t know if Mr. Trump possesses those skills.”

It’s unclear how much Trump’s brand of populist anger will translate to key Vermont political races in the fall.

Hayward, the former chief of staff for Douglas, said presidential politics have little effect on the governor’s race, other than increasing turnout.

“Gov. Douglas ran for re-election twice with President Bush, and the governor admired President Bush greatly, but he also was a very different Republican,” Hayward said. “And he made sure that people in Vermont understood that.”

Scott is distancing himself from Trump’s campaign, while his Republican primary opponent is flexible.

“People are pretty angry,” Bruce Lisman, a Republican candidate for governor, said this month. “And so it’s silly simply to say ‘I reject him.’ It’s better to have an open mind.”

Note: Nine members of the Trump campaign's delegate slate won election as national delegates. The number was incorrect in an earlier version of this article.

This article was first published online Saturday, May 21, 2016. Contact April Burbank at 802-660-1863 or aburbank@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AprilBurbank